1 . Scientists have long believed that Mars was wet around three billion years ago and then lost much of its water. But a new study presents evidence of water activity from about 700 million years ago, posing a new puzzle about Mars and its history for scientists to crack in their future studies.
The new study is based on data from China’s Zhurong rover (“祝融号”火星车), part of the Tianwen-1 mission that touched down on the surface of Mars in May 2021. In particular, the scientists used data the rover gathered during its first 92 Martian days, at its landing site in Utopia Planitia. Yang Liu, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), and his colleagues analyzed data from three different instruments on Zhurong. Those instruments studied minerals that suggest the presence of a large quantity of liquid water at the site about 700 million years ago, which scientists previously thought was dry.
“This is a very interesting result. We have very little recorded evidence of young liquid water systems on Mars. And for the ones we have, they were usually in the form of salt minerals,” says Dr. Scheller, a scientist at the California Institute of Technology. He explained Zhurong’s instruments spotted water molecules locked away in the rock, which was different from other young liquid water environments that have been observed.
“One of the major things we’ll have to find out and that I look forward to seeing from the Zhurong rover is how extensive these ‘young’ water-bearing minerals are,” Dr. Scheller said. “Are they common or uncommon in these ‘young’ rocks?” Zhurong has now covered about two kilometers during its more than 350 Martian days and has analyzed a range of features on its travels, meaning more new Martian insights are likely still to come from the rover.
NASA has so far sent its Mars rovers to ancient landing sites, dating back to more than 3.7 billion years ago. Zhurong is not just an extra set of wheels on Mars, but a powerful suite of instruments exploring a new, geologically young site to open new windows of opportunity for research on Mars.
1. What does the underlined word “crack” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Keep. | B．Doubt. | C．Solve. | D．Create. |
| A．The inaccuracy of data gathered on Mars. |
| B．Functional limitations of instruments on Mars. |
| C．Main reasons for the failure of the Tianwen-1 mission. |
| D．The misconception of past thinking about Martian water. |
| A．The result has been recorded by many scientists. |
| B．Zhurong’s wide analyses will bring more surprises. |
| C．Salt minerals are younger than water-bear ing minerals. |
| D．Young water-bearing minerals are common in young rocks. |
| A．Ancient. | B．Common. | C．Alarming. | D．Promising. |
2 . This year marks the 20th anniversary of China’s first manned space mission, with Yang Liwei becoming the first Chinese astronaut to go to space. Since then, another 19 astronauts have reached for the stars. The selection of the fourth generation of astronauts began in 2022 and is now in full swing. Experts revealed how tough the training is before astronauts can fly to space.
The human body is not designed for space life. Astronauts are faced with multiple challenges on a space mission. The changes in gravity can have an impact on their bodies. The sensation of confinement(封闭)living in a small spacecraft for months can damage their mental health. Emergencies during missions challenge their knowledge and ability to solve problems under huge pressure. So it’s no wonder that astronauts have to meet extremely high standards and go through a tough training program.
To make sure that Chinese astronauts complete their missions and return to Earth safely, “Eight types, including over 200 subjects of training, were set,” Huang Weifen, chief designer of the astronaut system for China’s manned space project, told CCTV News. Apart from physical fitness training, it also includes basic scientific theories, psychological health, and mock(模拟)missions.
Among the training subjects, the most tiring one is underwater training. This training is designed for astronauts to adapt to the microgravity environment in space. According to Huang, astronauts stay underwater in suits weighing over 100 kilograms for six hours at a time. Water resistance(阻力)and the heavy suit make every move exhausting. “Nie Haisheng, one of the astronauts, once reported a two-kilogram loss in weight after one underwater training exercise,” said Huang. Each astronaut receives training for at least three and a half years before having the chance to go to space.
1. How many generations of Chinese astronauts have been sent to space?| A．3 | B．4 | C．19 | D．20 |
| A．Human body is perfect for space exploration. |
| B．The spacecraft has enough space for astronauts to operate. |
| C．Astronauts ought to complete missions under huge pressure. |
| D．The isolated condition in space benefits people’s mental health. |
| A．To stress how challenging the training is. | B．To describe Nie’s personal achievements. |
| C．To introduce the weight limit for astronauts. | D．To explain the importance of proper training. |
| A．Microgravity environment cause health problems. |
| B．Astronauts need tough training to meet various challenges. |
| C．China has completed numerous missions in space exploration. |
| D．Experts reveals the high standards of selection process of astronauts. |
3 . Artificial intelligence (AI) is showing promise in earthquake prediction, challenging the long-held belief that it is impossible. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, have developed an AI algorithm (算法) that correctly predicted 70% of earthquakes a week in advance during a trial in China and provided accurate calculations for the predicted earthquakes.
The research team believes their method succeeded because they stuck with a relatively simple machine learning approach. The AI was provided with a set of statistical (统计的) features based on the team’s knowledge of earthquake physics, and then instructed to train itself using a five-year database of earthquake recordings. Once trained, the AI provided its prediction of earthquake by listening for signs of incoming earthquakes within the background rumblings (隆隆声) in the Earth.
This work is clearly a milestone in research for AI-driven earthquake prediction. “You don’t see earthquakes coming,” explains Alexandros Savvaidis, a senior research scientist who leads the Texas Seismological Network Program (TexNet). “It’s a matter of milliseconds ( 毫秒), and the only thing you can control is how prepared you are. Even with the 70% accuracy, that’s a huge result and could help minimize economic and human losses and has the potential to remarkably improve earthquake preparation worldwide.”
While it is unknown whether the same approach will work at other places, the researchers are confident that their AI algorithm could produce more accurate predictions if used in areas with reliable earthquake tracking networks. So, their next step is to test artificial intelligence in different places in Texas, since UT’s Bureau TexNet has 300 earthquake stations there and over six years’ worth of continuous records, making it ideal for these purposes.
Eventually, the authors hope to combine the system with physics-based models. This strategy could prove especially important where data is poor or lacking. “That may be a long way off, but many advances such as this one, taken together, are what moves science forward,” concludes Scott Tinker, the bureau’s director.
1. How does the AI predict earthquakes?| A．By analyzing background sounds in the Earth. |
| B．By identifying data from remote sensing satellite. |
| C．By modeling data based on earthquake recordings. |
| D．By monitoring changes in the Earth’s magnetic field. |
| A．The ways to reduce losses in earthquakes. |
| B．The accuracy of AI in earthquake prediction. |
| C．The limitation of AI algorithms in earthquake prediction. |
| D．The significance of developing AI-driven earthquake prediction. |
| A．Conducting tests in different locations. |
| B．Building more earthquake stations in Texas. |
| C．Improving the quality of earthquake tracking networks. |
| D．Applying AI approach to other fields besides earthquake. |
| A．Precise but outdated. | B．Effective but costly. |
| C．Advanced and promising. | D．Potential and economical. |
4 . Many got sleepless nights after Sora amazed the world with its remarkable ability of creating videos directly from text instructions. Discussions about what the artificial intelligence model can do and make a difference continue.
Some said it could give a huge blow to traditional industries such as film and television making, looking forward to the day when a movie can be created right after a novel is put into the model. But others remain skeptical about how powerful the model can be in changing the landscape of AI application.
Developed by a group of young talent from Microsoft-backed company OpenAI, the text-to-video model can generate videos up to a minute long while maintaining visual quality.
Shen Yang, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Tsinghua University, said, “Sora represents a revolutionary leap in the field of AI-generated content (AIGC).”
As one of the leading scholars in AI research in China, Shen leads a team that studies the philosophy of AI. Until he learned about Sora, Shen was quite satisfied with his team’s AI-generated videos. A two-minute video on the Spring Festival produced by Shen’s team have recently won many likes on social media platforms. “Compared with the new model Sora, what we used are tools of the previous generation. There’s a huge gap in between,” said Shen.
As a frequent user of AI, Shen said the technology not only helps improve his productivity, but also benefits his daily life. His wife was suffering from cancer, and he used AI to assist in finding treatment, which has remarkably prolonged her life. He even wrote an award-winning science fiction novel using A.
However, new technologies do not mean good news to everyone. Many also concern about AI models’ safety issues since related regulations are lagging behind.
Sora is going to bring changes in many fields, including short video, film and television, news, games, advertising, education, and even industrial manufacturing, according to Shen. There is still much room to improve AI models. For instance, current AI models are not capable of drawing characters accurately and quickly. Shop signs lack meaning in Sora’s demo video showing a woman walking down a street in Tokyo. But these problems are believed to be solved as models update.
1. Which of the following might replace the underlined word in Paragraph 2?| A．Push. | B．Strike. |
| C．Warning. | D．Bonus. |
| A．All people cannot benefit from the new AI technologies. |
| B．AI model’s safety isn’t concerning despite lagging legal restrictions. |
| C．The AI-generated videos by Shen Yang’s team were better than those created by Sora. |
| D．The text-to-video model was developed by a group of young talent from Tsinghua University. |
| A．Reserved. | B．Objective. |
| C．Unconcerned. | D．Approving. |
| A．Sora: An AI video. | B．Video Making: AI Models. |
| C．Sora: A Powerful AI Tool. | D．Video Making: Future of AI. |
5 . Amazon’s Alexa will be able to revive the voices of deceased relatives, allowing users to feel as if they are speaking to lost ones beyond the grave.
In a video shown on stage, Amazon demonstrated how, instead of the robot Alexa’s signature voice reading a story to a young boy, it was his grandmother’s voice.
Rohit Prasad, an Amazon senior vice president, said the updated system will be able to collect enough voice data from less than a minute of audio to make personalization like this possible, rather than having someone spend hours in a recording studio like how it’s done in the past.
The concept starts from Amazon looking at new ways to add more “human features” to artificial intelligence, especially “in the post-pandemic era, when so many of us have lost someone we love,” Prasad said. “While AI can’t rid that pain of loss, it can definitely make their memories last.”
Amazon has long used AI recreations of people’s voices to voice Alexa. But they have also increasingly improved over the past few years, particularly with the use of AI and deepfake (高仿真的) technology.
However, Amazon’s attempt at personalized Alexa voices may struggle most with the weird valley effect—recreating a voice that is so similar to a loved one’s but isn’t quite right, which leads to rejection by real humans. “For some, they will view this as creepy or outright terrible, but for others it could be viewed in a more profound way, perhaps for the first time and in a way that isn’t a strict recording from the past.” said Michael Inouye of ABI Research. He believes, however, the varying reactions to announcements like this speak to how society will have to adjust to the promise of innovations and their eventual reality in the years ahead.
The technology is also likely to lead to fears that it could be used to impersonate living people, which could be used to bypass security systems. In 2019, a manager at a British energy company lost almost￡200,000 after criminals used AI to fake his boss’s voice, directing him to transfer the company’s funds to a foreign bank account.
1. What is the feature of the updated system of Amazon’s Alexa?| A．It will use AI recreations of people’s voices. |
| B．It will free the grandmother from reading a story. |
| C．It will be highly efficient in collecting voice data. |
| D．It will make a breakthrough in deepfake technology. |
| A．We should tolerate the limitations of new technology. |
| B．Technology should meet the promises it made before. |
| C．Technology should recreate exactly our loved ones’ voice. |
| D．We should constantly increase our demand for technology. |
| A．Interact with. | B．Prove to be. |
| C．Have command of. | D．Pretend to be. |
| A．Critical. | B．Objective. | C．Supportive. | D．Skeptical. |
AI is like a magic force in our world today. It promises big changes in many fields, like making things better and
In terms of technological advancements, remarkable breakthroughs
In conclusion, while AI brings loads of benefits, it also has its challenges and concerns. We need to think
On March 21, an artist released a video
AI painting,
Despite the increased efficiency, people are becoming concerned about the possibility of losing their jobs. Not that long ago, painters
For many years, people have been worried that one day, robots could take their jobs. Now, it
ChatGPT is
However, one of the biggest
9 . How to Ease AI Anxiety
Rapid advances in generative artificial intelligence(AI) have brought big challenges and it’s logical for humans to feel anxious about it.
Remember context is key
Keeping in mind that the present moment is far from the first time people have feared the rise of an unfamiliar technology. “Computer anxiety” and “technostress” date back decades. Before that, there was uncontrollable worry over industrial automation.
Address the problem together
Rather than sticking your head in the sand, gain new skills to prepare for a career change or learning about ongoing efforts to regulate AI. Meanwhile, confronting anxiety over AI might begin with coming up with collective solutions and finding community.
Switch your attention
Another way to feel better about AI is to avoid too much attention to it.
The current technology is not truly producing new things but rather imitating or following what people can do. AI may be able to answer questions and solve problems, but it lacks the power to convey emotions, empathy and create original content. Therefore, unbiased judgment and certainty about your own skills can help with uneasiness.
| A．Focus on what you can control |
| B．Remind yourself of its limitations |
| C．More attention should be attached to AI |
| D．Getting involved in it is crucial to seeking security |
| E．There is more to life than just programs and screens |
| F．But humans aren’t yet headed for a complete replacement |
| G．Past advances did lead to big social and economic changes |
10 . As we all know, the universe includes the Sun and Earth, the planets and moons, the galaxies, stars and other forms of matter and energy.
Within the universe are billions of galaxies. A galaxy such as our own Milky Way contains billions of stars.
Scientists think that before the universe came into existence, all matter and energy were gathered in a tiny point. Then the point exploded. This explosion is called the Big Bang. After the Big Bang, the universe expanded at an amazing rate.
We still have much to learn about the universe. One important question remains unanswered: Does life exist out of Earth? Scientists do not have the answer. They hold different views about it.
| A．One of those is the Sun. |
| B．The Sun and the Earth are also in the solar system. |
| C．Some people believe that people have a good life on Earth. |
| D．In other words, the universe includes space and everything in it. |
| E．The expansion then slowed and, over time, the universe cooled. |
| F．Scientists are also trying to determine what the universe will be like. |
| G．Some think that Earth is the only planet in the universe with intelligent life. |
